Baby dies after being left in hot car in Kansas

Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan.

A 10-month-old Kansas girl died after being strapped for more than two hours inside a sweltering car, and police arrested a foster parent who said he’d forgotten about her until something on TV jogged his memory, an official said Friday.

The 29-year-old man was booked on suspicion of aggravated endangerment but has not been charged, said Lt. Todd Ojile of the Wichita Police Department. The case will be presented early next week to prosecutors.

The investigation found that the girl was picked up from the baby sitter about 4 p.m. Thursday and brought home, where she was “somehow forgotten” in the back seat of the car in Wichita, where temperatures were about 90 degrees. The foster parent went inside the house with a 5-year-old child who also had been with him, but left the baby strapped in the car seat in the parked car outside the house.

The other foster parent in the house at the time, his 26-year-old partner, was in the backyard when they came in. No charges are expected against him, Ojile said.

Both realized at the same time the baby was still in the car when “something on TV” jogged their memories, Ojile said, without elaborating.